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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
picked this up to get ready for the TV series, but the problem I have with a lot of Neil Gaiman's books is that they don't really hold my interest. I stopped at about 50% and I think I'll let the TV series fill me in on the rest.
Neil Gaiman is my 'white whale' author. He's a fantasy writer who writes according to literary feel and emotion rather than iron-clad lore, and his work often incorporates dark, fairytale attributes in place of more traditional horror elements. I should love him. I do not. American Gods came the closest to letting me catch him. It did not come close enough.
For 200 pages, I thought it would. American Gods opens with grief. Shadow Moon is released from prison on the day that his wife dies in a car crash, and it was in Shadow's reaction that I thought this book was going to be something special. After paragraphs of rambling chit chat, the warden drops the news:
For 200 pages, I thought it would. American Gods opens with grief. Shadow Moon is released from prison on the day that his wife dies in a car crash, and it was in Shadow's reaction that I thought this book was going to be something special. After paragraphs of rambling chit chat, the warden drops the news:
'This came from the Eagle Point Memorial Hospital...Your wife. She died in the early hours of this morning. It was an automobile accident, I'm sorry.
Shadow nodded once more.
Wilson walked him back to his cell, not saying anything.
I loved it. The understatement that undercuts the previous 14 pages of introductory text; the way it allows Shadow's numbness to come across without having to spell it out. Perhaps its because I imagined myself in Gaiman's place - confronted with the task of spelling out an incredibly complex character reaction - and marvelled at the simplicity of his solution. It's the kind of 'take charge' writing move that widens your scope of imagination just a little bit, and shows you that not every book has to be written exactly the same way. And because he takes charge, even in this subtle way, I was with him for all that immediately followed.
This is handy, because American Gods is incredibly vague in spelling out what is happening in a given moment. Characters refuse to answer questions, magical events will occur without rhyme or reason, and when those reasons are forthcoming, they often remain obscure. Dare we resort to the old writing criticism playbook and describe Gaiman's story as 'dreamlike'? We may as well, because it certainly fits the bill, but the opening is strong enough that (appropriately, given the subject matter), I had faith. I was confident that Gaiman knew what he was doing, and you'll be surprised how much an author can get away with when they have the audience's trust. Nary a single chapter of Act 1 makes complete sense, or even pushes your understanding of the world forward, but I ate it all up anyway.
And then Act 2 arrived, and my faith evaporated.
For the unaware: Act 2 of American Gods sees the protagonist relocated to the middle of bumfuck nowhere while the rest of the cast pushes the plot forward in the periphery. All momentum grinds to a halt, all intrigue is thrust to the backbench, and this once poetic epic becomes another tale of small-town Americana and the mind-numbing drudgery within. It's a risky move, and I might have enjoyed it more if the main character wasn't so eager to leave all talk of Gods behind and drive around Lakeside forever. I wanted to know more about the upcoming battle of the Gods; Shadow wanted to read a history of Town Council meetings. I no longer had faith in what Gaiman was up to, and I'm not sure the book ever fully recovered again.
This wouldn't hurt so much if American Gods wasn't playing with some incredibly interesting material: material that became harder to care for as events drudged on. It's clear that American Gods is an exploration of America's history and identity through the lens of mythological storytelling; a sprawling, stream-of-consciousness analysis that speaks the language of the Gods in order to reach its conclusions. This is most obvious in the many 'Coming to America' short stories that often appear in-between chapters: stories of various viewpoints on life in America that inevitably cross paths with the Gods, or perhaps even grant them first passage to the West. I feel reasonably confident claiming that this metaphorical analysis was Gaiman's intention. I also no longer have any desire to unpack it: nothing that that urges me to tear apart the book's many symbols and see what the point of it all was. Perhaps someday I will see see what others have written. I'm afraid that I will be unmoved by what I find.
This feels (certainly reads) like a harsh indictment, especially in the face of Gaiman's prose, which threads a fine line between unobtrusive straight-talk, and showmanship flourishes. Gaiman rarely gets in the way of a scene that is in progress, but whenever the characters stop talking, he often dives right in with an evocative piece of poetic description, or a non-chronological approach to exposition that places the outcome of an action before its introduction (many times will a character begin speaking before Gaiman has the chance to let the audience know they have arrived). Some people will find this unnecessary and confusing, but I found it thrilling. Gaiman is clearly in love with the written word, and is determined to deliver his story in a way that no other medium can manage.
Unfortunately, for as much as American Gods clearly has a deep reverence for prose as an art form, the raw storytelling underpinning it is often much harder to enjoy. When all forward momentum is lost, and narrative reveals elicit barely a shrug from your protagonist, is it a surprise to find that the desire to plow forward through the pages has become frustrated? I can only assume that the TV adaptation is almost entirely different from the story presented here, because this is not a narrative: it is a dream; an anti-climax stretched to 600 pages.
I am conflicted with American Gods beyond reason. The best compliment I can possibly give it is that, in spite of the above criticism, there are vast stretches which remain as engaging as any great book I have ever read. There are conversations that Shadow holds with his deceased wife that are utterly electric. Better than that: they justify the rambling approach that Gaiman is employing, with each of their scenes clearly demonstrating an author who is gradually coming to master and understand the story that he is telling. It's rare that you feel an author grow in front of your eyes, and I believe that this effect would not be present had Gaiman furiously plotted his book ahead of time.
But I can't tell you with certainty that any of those peaks are worth the effort of marshalling through the books many troughs. It hurts to reflect on how close American Gods came in allowing me to finally crack the Gaiman code. Like with Shadow's many magic coin tricks throughout the novel, I thought I finally had my hands closed around what Gaiman was doing. Only now that I open them do I see that my palm was empty.
I didn't expect more from this book than a good fantasy story based on a cool premise – and that's exactly what I found. I enjoyed recognizing or discovering the various gods, rooted for the main character, laughed, cringed, enjoyed the Coming to America and Lakeside stories in between...I wasn't convinced by all of the explanations offered for this crazy state of affairs but it didn't diminish my overall enjoyment of the book or my appreciation for how Gaiman managed to weave together so many different story elements into one rich tale.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really wanted to like this. Heck, I did like it ... Until Gaiman started to wrap up all the threads and left a tale full of magic and possibility behind with his tidy, 'and it all cleans up nicely' last several chapters. I don't know how to describe it but he had me in the palm of his hand and then said, 'Actually this is all a very normal story with a very normal ending.' Yes, A went to X or Y before it ended up back at B, but it still ended up at B. I was pretty disappointed to get to the climax of the story and find nothing spectacular was actually going to happen after that. It was all very expected. So-and-so did this and that fellow is the horrible person you though he might be. Too bad, really.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I honestly was glad when this journey was over. Maybe I've read too much of the Beat generation authors and had my glorious adventure on Rte 66 to find this story lacked everything. There was nothing daring in there and the author's angst to add the Jesus encounter or not was just pathetic. I love Mr Gaiman's early work but since Norse Mythology and this I see a lost creative soul trying to find his muse again.
Buy This Book Now! (5 out 5)
British born Neil Gaiman (who now lives in America) has written what is considered one of the greatest modern American novels. American Gods, winner of multiple awards, utilizes mythology, urban and rural landscapes, and magic realism to ask the questions of what does it mean to be an American and how has the concept of “being an America” changed over time? Don’t think for once that this novel is about patriotism. These questions bubble out of the violent war between the old world gods versus the modern day gods (e.g., Media and Internet) that have controlled the landscape. In the middle of this war is Shadow, an ex-convict, betrayed by his cheating (now dead) wife and best friend. Looking for work, Shadow becomes the bodyguard of Mr. Wednesday, who we later learn is one of the old gods, Odin. As they travel across America, we get a darker vision of America – a land that feels like a tortured soul having trouble finding its sense of “self.” What makes this book intriguing is Mr. Gaiman’s ability to create characters that feel very real and alive, including the land. I’m fascinated by his parallel of the characteristics between Shadow and the American landscape. Sacrifices are made at the end, but for whom? And, do the sacrifices make any difference to humanity and the future of America?
British born Neil Gaiman (who now lives in America) has written what is considered one of the greatest modern American novels. American Gods, winner of multiple awards, utilizes mythology, urban and rural landscapes, and magic realism to ask the questions of what does it mean to be an American and how has the concept of “being an America” changed over time? Don’t think for once that this novel is about patriotism. These questions bubble out of the violent war between the old world gods versus the modern day gods (e.g., Media and Internet) that have controlled the landscape. In the middle of this war is Shadow, an ex-convict, betrayed by his cheating (now dead) wife and best friend. Looking for work, Shadow becomes the bodyguard of Mr. Wednesday, who we later learn is one of the old gods, Odin. As they travel across America, we get a darker vision of America – a land that feels like a tortured soul having trouble finding its sense of “self.” What makes this book intriguing is Mr. Gaiman’s ability to create characters that feel very real and alive, including the land. I’m fascinated by his parallel of the characteristics between Shadow and the American landscape. Sacrifices are made at the end, but for whom? And, do the sacrifices make any difference to humanity and the future of America?
Wasn't for me. So many interludes to the story that to me just felt like distractions. The initial plot had intrigue and then I lost interest in the midst of all of the coin tricks and road trips and random interactions with people supposed to be gods. I guess I missed the point.
Reread this after watching the tv show. Not at all like the show. Really didn’t remember anything from the last time I read it, so I got to be surprised all over again.